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Wednesday, October 29, 2008

"The Mops" were formed in 1966 under the influence by "The Ventures" and performed instrumentals only. In 1967 the band began to perform in Tokyo and its suburbs. At first the band played in beat style according to their contract. When contract ended the band went in psychedelic style. As loud it was said - "The Mops" called themselves as the first psychedelic band in Japan! In November 1967 the band released debut single with great song "Asamade Matenai", which had success in Japanese charts. Then this song will open their debut album. As for me - this song is most powerful in album. And the debut album was released in April 1968 and called "Psychedelic Sounds In Japan". Album mostly consists of songs covers on "The Animals", "Jefferson Airplane", "The Doors" and others' hits. Sound in album pure western. Vocal is slightly ruff, but all together is nice to listen!

THE MOPS Psychedelic Sounds In Japan - album, originally released in 1968; The Mops were Japan's premier psychedelic group in the late 60s, and were very influenced by the emerging San Francisco/West Coast scene, as indicated by their covers of The Doors and Jefferson Airplane, but they also produced their own incredible original songs, such as 'I'm Just A Mops', 'Blind Bird`.

The Bluestars began life as the Nomads around 1961. Murray Savidan and Roger McClay were school friends at Auckland Grammar, where they played at school concerts. John Harris was recruited on drums and his friend Rick van Bokhoven joined as a singer.When Roger McClay left the group in early 1964, a reshuffle moved Savidan to bass, Harris to lead guitar and van Bokhoven to rhythm guitar. A new recruit was Jim Crowley, who took over the role of drummer. At this point they changed their name to the Bluestars.Modeling themselves on the Shadows style of music, they started playing at church and youth group dance engagements, but after hearing the Beatles first album, they made a major change to their style of music. This proved successful and they started selling out venues around Auckland's eastern suburbs.While the majority of the music was covers, they did do some original stuff and in 1964 they were invited to record a couple of these as demos for Eldred Stebbing's Zodiac Records. Nothing seemed to come from this, so they continued playing the suburban dance circuit, steering clear of the inner city clubs.Still wanting to release a record, they engaged Terry Hayman as their recording manager. Terry claimed to have contacts at Decca Records in London. He was right, and he got them signed to Decca, making the Bluestars the first New Zealand group to score a debut record contract in Britain. They still didn't actually have anything recorded, so Hayman arranged for NZBC engineer Wahanui Wynyard to record some songs at the Radio Theatre in Auckland.Four songs were recorded during the session. They were "Please Be A Little Kind", "I Can Take It", "Just Fell In Love With You" and "Baby Come Home". Although a rushed session, a tape was still sent off to England. Decca obviously liked what they heard, as they released a single of "Please Be A Little Kind" backed with "I Can Take It" in December 1965.The single was released in Britain and the Continent, as well as the US, Japan and Australia. Whilst getting some favourable reviews, it was not a hit. Early 1966 saw its release in New Zealand. Receiving valuable airplay, it made it to number 12 on a local chart, but because they were only known around Auckland, it never featured on the national chart. But because of their new found fame, they started playing larger venues, to larger audiences.The group went back to the studio to prepare a follow-up single. Three songs were recorded, "It's The End", "S'pose We're Away" and "Don't Wanna Be Lonely Anymore". Unfortunately Decca didn't like any of them and rejected them all. That concluded their relationship with Decca.As an answer to this rejection, John Harris wrote "Social End Product". It was released on Allied International in September 1966 with "I'm Over Here" on the flipside. With the release of this single, controversy was never far from the group.Towards the end of 1966, Rick van Bokhoven decided to leave the group. He later joined a version of the Music Convention in 1969. Jim Crowley also felt like a change and gave up the drums to play the organ. In 1967, a new recruit was found to play drums. He was Eric Jackson, from the recently disbanded Jamestown Union.In order to be able to have a regular place to play, as well as their suburban dance gigs, they decided to open their own club. A venue was found in Remuera and was named the "Gallows". It was a short lived venture and because of noise complaints by wealthy neighbours was forced to close down hardly before it began.One last single was recorded for Allied International in February 1967. It was "I'm A Little Man" / "Sherlock Sweet". Almost immediately after that the group broke up. Jim Crowley moved to Sydney, playing drums for Matchbox in 1969, and the others drifted into other non music related careers.

CD cover applies to become the big rarity because of mess in name of the group . The present name of group - The A-Cads and were a great South African rock and roll band formed in Johannesburg in 1965. They had a Springbok #1 hit in January 1966 with a cover of the Johnny Kidd and the Pirates' 'Hungry For Love'. ...

The A-Cads were the brainchild of Peter Rimmer, manager of the Rand Academy of Music in 1965. The name A-Cads was a compromise combination of the names "The Academy" (management's preference) and "The Cads" (preferred by the band)....

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

The Rats are known by very few listeners, and they most likely know about them because Mick Ronson was a member before playing on David Bowie's highly influential early-1970s albums. Formed in Hull, England, the first version of the group did not include Ronson, but did manage to release a couple of singles on Columbia U.K. in 1965. This included a tough cover of "Spoonful" that — although the liner notes of Pebbles Vol. 6 assert the contrary — did not feature Ronson. A decent but unexceptional R&B/rock unit, the Rats continued to slog it out in Hull over the next few years, with Ronson joining in 1966.Although the Rats stayed together (with varying lineups) through the rest of the '60s, they didn't make any more records, although a few unreleased tracks finally surfaced in the 1990s. They evolved into a heavier blues-rock combo, Ronson in particular showing the influence of Jeff Beck, whose group the Rats opened for at a March 1968 show. By 1969, onetime Rats drummer John Cambridge was in Junior's Eyes, which briefly became David Bowie's backup band. Cambridge recommended Ronson to Bowie as a lead guitarist, and Ronson's crunchy style was a key ingredient on Bowie's 1970 album The Man Who Sold the World. Woody Woodmansey, who had replaced John Cambridge as drummer in the Rats in 1969, also played on the record.The Rats' confusing history (considering they only made a couple of singles) had a final twist in the interim between The Man Who Sold the World (1970) and Bowie's rise to full-fledged stardom. As Bowie woodshedded for a while in the early 1970s to focus on songwriting, Ronson, Woodmansey, early Bowie producer and bassist Tony Visconti, and Rats vocalist Benny Marshall formed the short-lived Ronno. They released a single on Vertigo, but the project came to an end when Ronson, Woodmansey, and Trevor Bolder (who had replaced Visconti in Ronno) became Bowie's backing group, the Spiders from Mars. The Spiders backed Bowie on his most famous early-'70s albums, including Hunky Dory and Ziggy Stardust, before the singer disbanded the group in mid-1973, although Ronson worked with Bowie for a while longer. A Rats CD, cobbled together from their singles, unreleased '60s material, and 1990s versions of the group, appeared in 1998. A competent but undistinguished lot, the Rats are primarily worth investigating by British '60s rock completists and Bowie historians who want to hear Ronson's roots in particular.

Both sides of their two mid-1960s singles, and six previously unreleased tracks laid down in approximately 1967-69, form the bulk of this archival release. The Rats didn't have an original bone in their body, but nonetheless this is enjoyable period British R&B/rock fare. Of the mid-sixties cuts, their version of "Spoonful" is pretty lean and mean, and the "House of the Rising Sun"-derived "New Orleans" is nicely moody. Mick Ronson isn't on any of those, but his presence is evident on the late-sixties material, particularly "Guitar Boogie," clearly modeled on the Yardbirds' "Jeff's Boogie," and reaching a manic sped-up tempo at the end which verges on parody. The title track is pretty indulgent 1967 psychedelia, but the hard rock covers of Gladys Knight's "Stop Get a Hold of Myself" and the folkie favorite "Morning Dew" are actually quite respectable, even if they're obviously using the Jeff Beck Group approach as the template. Only three of the ten sixties tracks were group originals, and they were none too impressive, helping doom them to also-ran status in the pre-Bowie years. Tacked onto the end are two numbers by a reconstituted Rats at a 1994 memorial concert for Ronson, as well as three horrendous hard rock studio tracks from 1998. It's certainly a release that only appeals to the hardcore fanatic. Yet it's not without its appeal, particularly as it comes with incredibly extensive liner notes about the Rats and their members' involvement in early David Bowie projects that will make fascinating reading for Bowie and Ronson nuts.

Biographyby Stephen Thomas ErlewineThe Flying Burrito Brothers helped forge the connection between rock and country, and with their 1969 debut album, The Gilded Palace of Sin, they virtually invented the blueprint for country-rock. Though the band's glory days were brief, they left behind a small body of work that proved vastly influential both in rock and country. The Flying Burrito Brothers reunited later in the '70s, albeit without their founding members Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman, and continued performing and recording in a variety of incarnations into the '80s.Originally, the Flying Burrito Brothers were a group of Los Angeles musicians who gathered together to jam. Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman...Read More...

The last that had been heard of the Flying Burrito Brothers was a 1973 European tour organized by Rick Roberts, replacement for founding member Gram Parsons, with a few hired guns. But with Parsonss growing posthumous legend, the band's name retained currency, and former bassist Chris Ethridge and former pedal steel guitarist "Sneaky" Pete Kleinow retained legal rights to that name. They brought in guitarist/fiddle player Floyd "Gib" Gilbeau, guitarist Joel Scott Hill, and former Byrds drummer Gene Parsons and relaunched the Burritos with this album of competently played country-rock. Words like "travesty" and "insult" have been used to describe it, on the grounds that Ethridge and Kleinow were trading on Parsons's reputation, but on its own, the album is an adequate, if unremarkable set. Just don't pick it up looking for the old glory.

Bassist, Phil "Fang" Volk toured with Rick Nelson's Stone Canyon Band before going on to write the score for numerous films and national commercials. He has produced his own group, "The Brotherhood" on RCA Victor, as well as "The Great Crowd" on Lute Records. For nine years, Phil performed the lead role in the Broadway musical-styled play, "A Blast From the Past", as well as a seven-year stint at Disneyland and Disney World as bandleader of "The Friendship Train". Drake Levin went on to a solo career, as well as joining Phil Volk and Mike Smith as a member of Brotherhood and as a highly in-demand studio musician, playing with Lee Michaels and Emmit Rhoades. One of the premiere blues guitarists in the San Francisco area, Drake was playing with The Curtis Lawson Band as of 2002. After Mike "Smitty" Smith left the Raiders in May 1967, he went on to form "Brotherhood" with Volk and Levin. They released three albums for RCA, but contractual obligations with Columbia caused problems which led to Brotherhood's obscurity. Smitty was very involved in both the financial and creative aspects of Brotherhood and co-wrote nearly every song on the first two albums. After leaving Brotherhood, Smitty again became a Raider from early 1971 until December 1972. He performed on the band's only Number One hit, "Indian Reservation" and also participated on their last Columbia album, "Country Wine". Smitty reunited a few times with the Raiders over the years, but sadly, died of natural causes at his home in Hawaii on March 6, 2001, at the age of 58. (Paul Revere and the Raiders )

No other rock & roll band has experienced the rollercoaster ups and downs in reputation that Paul Revere & the Raiders have known across 40 years in music. One of the most popular and entertaining groups of the 1960s, they enjoyed 10 years of serious chart action, and during their three biggest years (1966-69) got as much radio play as any group of that decade, sold records in numbers second only to the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, and received nearly as much coverage in the music press of the period (which included a lot of teen fan magazines) as the Beatles or the Rolling Stones. Yet when most histories of rock started getting written, Paul Revere & the Raiders were scarcely mentioned -- at best, they were usually a footnote to the boom years of the late '60s NEXT AND MORE :

Monday, October 27, 2008

Friday, October 24, 2008

Originally called The Nomads, they recorded a track for the ‘This Is Mersey Beat’ LP then discovered a London group had registered the name so changed it to The Mojos. In October 1963 Adrian Wilkinson left and was replaced by Nick Crouch, former Farons Flamingos guitarist. While appearing at the Star Club, Hamburg, they recorded what is now considered one of the classics of the ‘Mersey Sound’ , ‘Everythings Alright’ which entered the UK Top 10 charts. The next two releases were less distinguished and prompted Stu James to say, “We made our name in Liverpool as Blues specialists but were persuaded to do all sorts of lightweight pop stuff. After our initial success, we just stumbled on in a fairly aimless way. The acclaim we got was for our live performances which remained loud and raucous”. In December 1964 Stu James and Nick Crouch split from the others and formed Stu James & the Mojos bringing in Lewis Collins on Bass and Aynsley Dunbar on drums, this line-up continued till 1966 when Nick left the music business and Lewis Collins entered into a successful acting career appearing in the hit TV series ‘The Professionals’.

Biography by Richie UnterbergerAn average psychedelic band featuring a prominent organ, female vocalist and distorted hard rock guitar, 6 Feet Under released a couple of flop 1970 singles on Scepter before disbanding. Influenced by the Doors, Iron Butterfly and Jefferson Airplane, they favored gloomy minor melodies and naively earnest songs reflecting the state of social unrest and psychedelic exploration in the counterculture circa 1969-70. Their legacy was greatly expanded by a CD reissue on Arf! Arf! in 1998 that included previously unreleased material that approximated what their debut album might have sounded like, along with some unissued home, live and rehearsal recordings. Prior to recording for Scepter, their drummer, Tico Torres, had been replaced on the grounds that he wasn't good enough; he became the only member of 6 Feet Under to make it in the music business, as part of Bon Jovi.

There were teen garage groups in the late '60s and early '70s, playing material that was far more psychedelic and heavier than the garage punkers of the mid-'60s. They're not nearly as well documented by reissues, however, since they have not been judged by history to be as hip and worthy as their predecessors. For that reason, this disc stands out from the usual '60s teen rock reissue. It's not that good or that bad; it's just representative of how suburbanites of that time emulated the rock sounds of the day, with the organ of the Doors and Iron Butterfly, the guitar of Hendrix and the vocals of the Jefferson Airplane being some of the audible inspirations. Most of this disc, consisting of studio recordings, home recordings, and odds and ends, is original material in a minor-key, ominous-but-innocuous vein.

BO GRUMPUS was formed in Boston in 1967 .In the spring of 1968, Before The War was issued on the Atco label. A couple of tracks were engineered by Chris Houston, former member of The Undertakers. Felix said that the roots to his rock group, Mountain, can be traced to this recording. When Bell Records approached Felix with an offer for him to produce a record, he wanted Bo Grumpus to be the band. The problem was, The Richmond Organization (the group’s publishing company) owned the rights to the name Bo Grumpus being used for a musical group. That meant another name change.At the suggestion of Eddie Mottau, the group changed its name to Jolliver Arkansaw.

BO GRUMPUS was formed in Boston in 1967 and are not to be confused with the group using the name in the 1990s—2000s. N.D. Smart and Jim Colegrove traveled from Ohio to team up with guitarists, Eddie Mottau and Joe Hutchinson. Eddie and Joe had performed as a duo in the mid-sixties called Two Guys From Boston. They had done some recording with Noel "Paul" Stookey as their producer but had only one single released on the Scepter label. N.D. had met the Two Guys when they performed in Dayton, Ohio at the local folk club, The Lemon Tree. N.D. then both recorded and performed with them. When they asked him to join them to make a band he was prompt to say yes. N.D. asked Jim Colegrove to join them on bass.The group first performed at The Loft on Charles Street in Boston using the name The Bait Shop. It wasn’t long before Eddie and Joe called their friend Felix Pappalardi in New York to come to Boston to hear the group play. Felix had played bass with The Two Guys on their recordings. At the time, Felix had already produced The Youngbloods records for RCA and was in the midst of recording Cream for their upcoming Disraeli Gears LP. Felix came to Boston and heard the group. He and his partner, Bud Prager, liked the band and set about to secure a recording/publishing deal for them. The Bait Shop moved to New York City in June, 1967 and prepared to record.The first of many changes occurred when Felix asked the band to change their name. His suggestion was a name that his wife, Gail Collins, came up with. Gail was an artist and had a drawing that hung on their living room wall she called Bo Grumpus. It was a strange-looking creature with other equally strange-looking creatures crawling out of a hole in its stomach. Felix thought the name was so unusual that it would be defined by the style of music that the group recorded. Felix was quoted as saying, "It’s a good name that means nothing." The band made its New York debut at the Gaslight Cafe on MacDougal Street.In the autumn of 1967 they began working at The Cafe Wha?. The group still hadn’t completed an LP. By the end of the year N.D. decided to leave the group to join John Hall’s band, Kangaroo. The former Hello People drummer, Ronnie Blake, replaced N.D. Music at The Wha? worked in two shifts. The bands on the night shift when Bo Grumpus started were Cat Mother and the All-Night Newsboys and the Peepl. Cat Mother went on to have a big hit with Good Old Rock and Roll on Polydor. Two of the guys in the Peepl, Joey DeJesus and Peter Alongi, went on to record with a group called Banchee on Atlantic and Polydor. Comedian David Frye appeared there that summer. Other bands that worked there during this time were the Raves, the Cherry People, the Roman Numerals, Kangaroo, the Hello People, the Turnkeys, Meat (with Rob Stoner), The Castilles (with Bruce Springsteen), Watertower West (with Alan Merrill) and Jessie’s First Carnival (with Jeff Gutcheon). In the spring of 1968, Before The War was issued on the Atco label. A couple of tracks were engineered by Chris Houston, former member of The Undertakers. Felix said that the roots to his rock group, Mountain, can be traced to this recording. When Bell Records approached Felix with an offer for him to produce a record, he wanted Bo Grumpus to be the band. The problem was, The Richmond Organization (the group’s publishing company) owned the rights to the name Bo Grumpus being used for a musical group. That meant another name change.At the suggestion of Eddie Mottau, the group changed its name to Jolliver Arkansaw. They went into the studio early in 1969 to record. On one of the tracks, Gray Afternoon, they were joined by guitarist Leslie West. The solo that Leslie played on this track convinced Felix to start a band with him. That band became known as Mountain. Jolliver Arkansaw’s LP, titled Home, was issued on Bell in 1969. Gray Afternoon has been reissued on a Sound Stories compilation CD (see below). It still gets played on cable music channels.The LP was the subject of a full-page ad in Rolling Stone Magazine #38 (7-26-69) w/ Jim Morrison on cover. Details of that edition:Feature Article: Jim Morrison of The Doors - Interview. Other Features: Buddy Guy. Articles: Jimi Hendrix with Eric Burdon Live, Denver Festival, Columbia Records and Clive Davis, Tibet, Big Joe Williams. Record Reviews: Bonzo Dog Band, Crosby Stills and Nash, Johnny Cash, Kaleidoscope, Little Richard, It's a Beautiful Day (by Lester Bangs), Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band (by Lester Bangs), Sly and the Family Stone, The Steve Miller Band. Advertisements: Jolliver Arkansaw (full), Bert Sommer (full), Tom Paxton (full), Bugsy Maugh (full), Steppenwolf / Three Dog Night (full), POCO (1/2), NRBQ (1/2), Joni Mitchell (full), Vince Martin (1/2), Johnny Cash (1/2), Alexander Spence (1/2), Robert Johnson King of the Delta Blues (1/4), John Lennon with Yoko Ono (1/4), Alice Cooper / Captain Beefheart / Jerry Yester & Judy Henske (full)By August, 1969, Jolliver Arkansaw had come to its end and the group’s members went their separate ways. Jim Colegrove joined Ian & Sylvia’s band Great Speckled Bird and reunited with N.D. Smart. Eddie Mottau became Noel Stookey’s producer, recorded and performed with John Lennon then started his own solo career.It is a strange twist of fate that in this day and age some characterize the original Bo Grumpus as "the psychedelic band from Boston," or "anti-war band," when in fact they were a ragtime group in their formative years performing tunes such as Sister Kate, Gimme A Pigfoot, The Preacher and The Bear, Big Fat Woman, Charlie Green (Trombone Charlie) and many others in that style.

The heavy, psychedelic acid rock of Iron Butterfly may seem dated to some today, but the group was one of the first hard rock bands to receive extensive radio airplay, and their best-known song, the 17-minute epic "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida," established that more extended compositions were viable entries in the radio marketplace, paving the way for progressive AOR. The track was written by vocalist, organist, and bandleader Doug Ingle, who formed the first incarnation of Iron Butterfly in 1966 in San Diego with drummer Ron Bushy. After the group moved to Los Angeles and played the club scene, it secured a recording contract and got national exposure through tours with the Doors and Jefferson Airplane... Read More...

Rare Flight is a greatest hits compilation released in 1988 during the 40th anniversary of Atlantic Records. This compilation includes Iron Butterfly's songs from their first and third albums: Heavy and Ball.Which is to say it's basically a two-fer of the "Heavy" and "Ball" releases. I was thrown by the "rare" in the title--actually there are two or three rare tracks that could have been included here. Two of them are on the "extra tracks" release of "Ball". Now if only someone did a box set! ( amazon.com)

Biographyby Richie Unterberger & Bruce EderMostly renowned for their 1964 Top Five hit "Have I the Right," the Honeycombs were pretty much a front for producer Joe Meek and the songwriting-management team of Ken Howard and Alan Blaikley. The group was originally called the Sherabons and was formed in Hackney during November of 1963 by Martin Murray. His day job was managing a hair salon, and when he formed the band, he brought along his assistant, Anne Margot Lantree, who was nicknamed "Honey" and used that on-stage — she played drums and, with her good looks, was a double attention-getter. Her brother John joined on bass, and Alan Ward played lead guitar. And for a lead vocalist, they had Dennis D'El.. Read More...

01 - Color Slide02 - Once You Know03 - Without You It Is Night04 - That's The Way05 - I Want To Be Free06 - How The Mighty Have Fallen07 - Have I The Right08 - Just A Face In The Crowd09 - Nice While It Lasted10 - Me From You11 - Leslie Anne12 - She's Too Way Out13 - It Ain't Necessarily So14 - This Too Shall Pass Away15 - Please Don't Pretend Again16 - I'll Cry Tomorrow17 - If You've Got To Pick A Baby18 - I'll See You Tomorrow19 - I Can't Stop20 - Hab Ich Das Recht21 - Du Sollst Nicht Traurig Sein91 - Who Is Sylvia92 - Eyes93 - That Lovin' Feeling94 - Can't Get Through To You95 - Is It Because96 - Come Right Back97 - This Year Next Year

Opal Butterfly is a classic B-list pop-psych band best remembered for an impeccable taste in covers and the people who passed through its ranks on their way up. Lead guitarist Robbie Milne and 17-year-old drumming wiz Simon King formed the band in 1967; bassist Richar Bardey, guitarist Tommy Doherty, and vocalist Allan Love rounded out the lineup. A wealthy banker's backing enabled the band to spend the first half of 1968 rehearsing. A deal followed with CBS, for whom the band recorded an unreleased demo of the Electric Prunes' "I Had Too Much to Dream Last Night." Opal Butterfly debuted in mid-1968 with "Beautiful Beige"/"Speak Up," an agreeable enough slice of psychedelic pop that made no impact.Opal Butterfly's finest recorded hour came in early 1969 with an organ-powered remake of the Wo's "Mary Anne With the Shaky Hands." The B-side, "My Gration Or?," is better yet, boasting enough feedback to stoke the most ardent Creation fanatic. But the song faded after its initial airplay — and the band couldn't muster more than underground support gigs, so Doherty and Kig jumped ship. Milne briefly continued with a lineup that also included guitarist Davy O'List, then abandoned it to join the New Look Soul Band. But keeping the name didn't benefit King's lineup, for which Doherty switched to bass, whileIan "Lemmy" Kilmister — fresh from his bout with raga-rock in Sam Gopal's Dream — joined on guitar. The revamped Butterfly also switched labels — this time to Polydor.For its final single, "Groupie Girl"/&"The Gigging Song," the band turned to homegrown subjects. The A-side snarkily puts down women who pursue bands — but not the rockers who inspire the chase, of course — while the flip side looked at life on the road. "Groupie Girl" jump-started a film of the same name and a radically reworked version of the title track (which doesn't feature all the bandmembers). Lemmy didn't appear on the single or film, having been booted out and replaced by Ray Major. But neither project made any impact, and all the personnel shuffles made little difference if no album deal was imminent, so Opal Butterfly dissolved by the end of 1970. Ironically, Lemmy and King would meet up (and fall out) again in the classic space rock band Hawkwind Major joined the ill-fated Mott, then worked as a solo artist.

Few musicians are as synonymous with heavy metal as Motorhead's Lemmy Kilmister. But long time fans know that ol' Lemmy has tackled other styles over the years, including British Invasion pop (as part of the Rockin' Vicars) and space rock (as part of Hawkwind). Additionally, Lemmy has covered a few country and/or rockabilly tunes over the years, including a metallic version of "Stand By Your Man," Carl Perkins' "Matchbox," and Johnny Cash's "Big River." So it shouldn't come as a surprise that in the early 21st century, Lemmy launched a rockabilly side project, the Head Cat. Taking a break from more… his beloved Rickenbacker bass, Lemmy handles vocals (which resemble little of the throaty growl of his Motorhead work), acoustic guitar, and harmonica duties, and is joined by ex-Stray Cats drummer Slim Jim Phantom and lead guitarist/bassist/keyboardist Danny B. Harvey. As evidenced by their 2006 debut, Fool's Paradise, the trio is one rockin' good time — a much needed antidote to the computer/software enhanced state of popular music. Expectedly, this isn't going to melt your speakers upon first listen like Ace of Spades did all those years ago. That said, it's certainly a worthwhile listen for die-hard fans to hear Lemmy tackle covers of some of his favorite standards — "Not Fade Away," "Well All Right," as well as the two aforementioned tracks, "Big River" and "Matchbox."

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1 Fool's Paradise 2 Tell Me How 3 You Got Me Dizzy 4 Not Fade Away 5 Cut Across Shortly 6 Lawdy Miss Clawdy 7 Take Your Time 8 Well... All Right 9 Trying to Get to You 10 Learning the Game 11 Peggy Sue Got Married 12 Crying, Waiting, Hoping 13 Love's Made a Fool of You 14 Big River 15 Matchbox

Biographyby Richie UnterbergerDespite making fans of Elvis Presley and Phil Spector, as well as getting a big local hit in Memphis, the Guilloteens are not too well remembered in the pantheon of mid-'60s garage bands. That's unfortunate, because they were one of the better ones, and certainly one of the best from the South, an area that produced fewer garage bands per capita than the leading regional hotbeds of the sound. Perhaps some of the attention given to other regional garage bands of the era has eluded them because they were more versatile than the usual such act, putting fair quotients of blue-eyed soul, pop, and folk-rock into their sound, as well as the more expected British Invasion and raucous frat rock ingredients.The Guilloteens formed in 1964 when Louis Paul, ... Read More...

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Action! Action! Action!

They never struck the commercial success of their townmates the Gentrys or the Box Tops. But with their unique blend of blue-eyed soul, folk-rock and a good dose of British Invasion, the Guilloteens are considered by many to be the best band to come out of Memphis in the '60s. If ever a combo should have had a slice of the bigtime, it was those sharp young blades, the Guilloteens. Why they never really got their cut is a matter of strong opinion among group members and close observers, but the group's status in Memphis rock history remains strong today and their aura has not diminished. This 20-track collection presents for the first time in one place the titanic trio's complete output, along with rare related 45s and amazing side ventures by the band or various members. This CD captures and distills what the Guilloteens stood for during their halcyon three-year existence – Action! Action! Action!.

Garage rock is an ugly beast which rears its head every so often even at times when it is unwanted. 1967 was a dull time for garage rock, and yet the Belfast Gypsies put out a sneering, garage rock platter of an lp, and because of the changing times, were considered has-beens. But given time, Them Belfast Gypsies has indeed become known as a garage rock classic, inspiring everyone from The Modern Lovers to Iggy Pop (who claimed the Belfast Gypsies' Secret Police was one of his favorite garage rock singles), and thanks to reissue label of the year Rev-Ola, Them Belfast Gypsies has been finally reissued on cd.Kim Fowley discovered the Belfast Gypsies from the remnants of Van Morrison's group Them. Upon the birth of Van Morrison's solo career, Them split into two different groups - Them bass player, Alan Henderson took the group's name to the U.S. and released some psychedelic albums (Now & Them and Time in! Time Out! For Them! have also been reissued by UK reissue label Rev-Ola). The other off-shoot of Them, was re-christened the Belfast Gypsies, and included Them's organist Jackie McAuley and his brother, Pat, on drums. Under the wing of Kim Fowley, who was visiting the UK fresh from California, looking for new bands to work with, the Belfast Gypsies released a couple of singles and an album under the names Belfast Gypsies and The Freaks of Nature. Where the splinter Them group who settled in the U.S. took a foray into psychedelic music, Belfast Gypsies stayed true to their R&B garage rock roots, creating primal stabs of vinyl passion. Rev-Ola has done an incredible job bringing together all of this music on one amazing cd, which - if you haven't heard, will shatter your illusions that you've heard it all before.At a time when The Beatles' Revolver and Sgt Pepper were paving the way, creating a blueprint for other groups to follow, often these lesser groups were followers and their end results were dire. Belfast Gypsies, however were caught and held in that moment which made them so great. Kim Fowley did a wonderful job in that way - he was able to take the angst of rock groups of the day and nurture that angst for all it was worth.Belfast Gypsies is that mix of folk rock gone asunder (a la the Animals' House of the Rising Sun) and the Bo Diddley beat mixed with Kim Fowley's freaky LA paranoia. Kim Fowley gave the group help on such songs as Gloria's Dream (a take on the original Them's hit song with great follow-up results), People, Let's Freak Out (definitely a tune worthy of being released by a band also called The Freaks of Nature... as only Kim Fowley would name them) and the astounding Secret Police (the crowning moment for the Belfast Gypsies sound - a snarling, paranoid anthem which pulsates with angst).Belfast Gypsies combine these moments with their own originals, some blues and folk covers, as well as a couple of Dylan/Donovan tunes.Belfast Gypsies were honing into the folk rock sound on their originals which include The Crazy World Inside Me (a plea-ridden song with a building melody), Aria of the Fallen Angels (a tongue in cheek "classical" inspired instrumental which sounds like soundtrack music), Suicide Song (the strangest song on the album about the suicide of the girl form the wrong side of town) and The Last Will and Testament (another folk rock inspired ballad which owes a lot to the sound of The Animals).The blues and folk rock songs include Midnight Train (with an amazing workout on harmonica), Boom Boom (a chestnut no-one was covering in 1967, and this version blows away many of the versions I've heard of this oft covered tune), and The Gorilla (an obscure French EP instrumental and one of the true gems on this cd).The Dylan cover of It's All over Now, Baby Blue is also another one of the finds on this disc - one of the better covers of this song, and it should be in any Dylan fan's collection. The Donovan cover of Hey Gyp (Dig the Slowness) is a fitting Belfast Gypsies cover (check that song title) because it has that Bo Diddley beat that the Belfast Gypsies do so well. ( http://www.gullbuy.com/buy%5C2003%5C12_16/them.cfm )

Friday, October 17, 2008

The McCoys' fourth album, 1969's Human Ball, opens and closes with the band laying out some tough blues workouts on-stage at the Scene, one of New York's more celebrated rock clubs of the day, and on this score the LP was already an improvement over the pretentious meandering of their previous long-player, Infinite McCoys. Human Ball is every bit as clear a departure from the McCoys' garage rock roots, but the set maintains a dramatically tighter focus, and unlike Infinite McCoys here the band doesn't hesitate from rocking out, especially on the swaggering R&B-influenced "Daybreak," the funky roots-conscious cover of Dylan's "All Over You," the sunny country vibe of "Only Human," and the stormy rant of "Clergy Lies." The jazz influences and desire to show off the group's sophistication, which dragged Infinite McCoys down more than it lifted it up, had not been purged entirely from Human Ball, and "It Really Doesn't Matter" and "Love Don't Stop" are filler more than anything else, while Bob Peterson's piano solo in "Daybreak" takes up far too much space. But the closing take on "Stormy Monday" gives ace guitarist Rick Zehringer (soon to become Rick Derringer) plenty of room to strut his stuff, and after hearing this track you can understand how most of these guys later got the gig as Johnny Winter s backing band. If the McCoys had been encouraged to cut a straight-ahead blues or blue-eyed soul album, it could have been a barnburner, which Human Ball unfortunately is not. But at least the band's last album is a tighter and more enjoyable effort than the LP that preceded it, and demonstrates how much they could have accomplished if they'd hung together a bit longer.

Hang on Sloopy: The Best of the McCoys is a 22-track compilation of the group's best mid-'60s material, including all the hits and tracks from their two Bang LPs, non-album singles, and a couple of previously unissued cuts. Much of this is rather forgettable if inoffensive, other than "Hang on Sloopy," "Fever," "Sorrow," and "Don't Worry Mother.

Vocalist/keyboardist Willie MacCalder formed the Walkers in 1963 with guitarists Bill Hardie and Dennis Petruk, and drummer Roland Hardie. The group signed with Capitol four years later and released two singles, "Diamonds and Gold" and "Alone in My Room." The Walkers disbanded in the early '70s (MacCalder began playing with the Powder Blues Band), but re-formed in 1988 for a reunion concert. Several changes later took place, including Roland Hardie being replaced by Nick Petruk and new additions vocalist Rick Francis, keyboard player R.J. Smarton and guitarist Sam Paladino joining the Walkers.

01. My Friend02. Feelin' So Good03. It Is Easy To See04. Baby Do You Need Me05. Diamonds and Gold06. The Door That Leads To Nowhere07. Poor Janie08. (Alone) In My Room09. I've Given Up My Soul10. Appreciate A Girl11. Loser12. The Magic In Her Eyes13. What Is The Reason14. Is It Love15. All About You

A distinctly lower-echelon Merseybeat band, the Escorts' commercial impact was slight indeed. Only one of their six singles made the British Top 50, and at number 49 at that. They covered "Dizzy Miss Lizzie" before the Beatles, and the single made some noise in Texas, but besides that they were unheard beyond their Liverpool hometown. Their 45s were pleasant, moderately catchy, and featured close harmonies, but were basically unmemorable. The Escorts lacked a distinctive sound and wrote virtually none of their own material (many of their A-sides were tame covers of U.S. rock and R&B hits; many of their B-sides were shallow Merseybeat numbers written by their manager). After a lineup change in 1966, the group recorded their sixth single with Paul McCartney on tambourine, showing a much more pronounced soul feel. Guitarist Terry Sylvester left the Escorts near the end of their recording career to join the Swinging Blue Jeans, and eventually replaced Graham Nash in the Hollies in the late '60s.

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1 Dizzy Miss Lizzy 2:11 2 All I Want Is You 1:49 3 The One to Cry 1:55 4 Tell Me Baby 2:16 5 I Don't Want to Go on Without You 2:23 6 Don't Forget to Write 2:21 7 C'mon Home Baby 2:05 8 You'll Get No Lovin' That Way 1:57 9 Let It Be Me 2:19 10 Mad Mad World 2:05 11 From Head to Toe 2:32 12 Night Time 2:53

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The only Escorts LP, this compiles both sides of their six 1964-66 singles. It's lovingly packaged, complete with a four-page history of the group, but one has to wonder whether the effort was really necessary for such a slight band.

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Ringo Starr arranged for The Escorts to have a residency at the Blue Angel Club, Liverpool, in 1962. The following year they entered a talent competition, the judges, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, voted them the top group out of the eighty who entered. The prize included a television appearance and a recording contract with Decca. It later transpired Decca said the prize was only a recording test and didn’t take an option on the group. They made their recording debut on the Fontana label recording ‘Dizzy Miss Lizzy’ /‘All I Want Is You’ but it failed to make the charts. The groups second release, ‘The One To Cry’/‘Tell Me Baby’ reached No.49 in the charts. The third release, a version of the Drifters, ‘I Don’t Want To Go On Without You’/‘Don’t Forget To Write’ , was also covered some days later by the Birmingham group The Moody Blues and it was their version which entered the charts. Terry Sylvester left the group and joined the Swinging Blue Jeans eventually moving to the The Hollies, replacing Graham Nash. In 1965, The Escorts released a forth record ‘C’mon Home Baby’/ You’ll Get No Lovin That Way’. Two more records where released in 1966 ‘Let It Be Me’ / ‘Mad Mad World’ and ‘From Head To Toe’ (Paul McCartney played tambourine) / ‘Night Time’ this release also failed to make the charts. The group broke up some time later.

The Deejays - Haze1. Summertime Blues 2. In A Dream 3. Ring You On Friday 4. Love You 5. Little Children 6. Working Out Fine 7. Who Put The Bomp 8. Then It Will Be Me 9. Please Don't Do It 10. Far Apart, Why? 11. Without Love 12. Striped Dreams Checked Fear

01- why should i cry02- just got the news03- help me04- can't you see when somebody love you05- stroll on06- i need love07- south bound train08- cinnamon girl09- tears10- rollin' & tumblin'11- he'll never love you12- i hate to see you go

The Gentrys got their start in Memphis, TN, in 1963. The original group was made up of seven members: vocalist Bruce Bowles, saxophonist Bobby Fisher, vocalist Jimmy Hart, trumpet player Jimmy Johnson, bassist Pat Neal, vocalist Larry Raspberry, and drummer Larry Wall. Their debut album, Keep on Dancing, climbed into the Top 100 due to the success of the title track. The group enjoyed minor success until 1966, when the band broke up. Originally, member Jimmy Hart decided to resurrect the band in 1969, now featuring himself on lead vocals. The band still had some minor success, but did not last long. Raspberry would go on to start several more garage and soul groups, while Hart became a popular wrestling character, the "Mouth of the South," and would write music for both the WWF and WCW wrestling organizations.

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01 Gimmie_Love Now02 Sunshine Girl03 Ramblin Man04 Giving Love Never Hurt Anybody05 In06 I_Didnt Think You_Had It In You07 I m Gonna Look Straight Through_You08 Lets Dance09 Dont Let It Be Me This Time10 Everyday I Have To Cry11 I Feel Love Coming_On12 A Little Bit Of Love Can Work A Miracle

Formed in 1965 in Billings, Montana, the Frantics were a sextet who drew their influences from Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, and, later, Jim Morrison (note the Lizard Records imprint for their second album). They were a little on the heavy side in terms of their musical approach, and were ambitious—they played throughout the United States and relocated several times, to New Mexico and then to Colorado Springs, Colorado, before settling in Los Angeles in 1969. The group released a pair of singles, "La Do Da Da" b/w "Route 66" and "Midnight To Six Man" b/w "Shady Sam." They also cut two albums, Relax Your Mind, which dated from 1968 and was unreleased until the 1990's, and a second album, Conception, late in their history. At around that same time, they dropped the "s" from their name and worked as The Frantic.

No relation to the far better known American Kaleidoscope, though this British group was also psychedelic, and was active at almost exactly the same time in the late '60s. Highly esteemed by some collectors, Kaleidoscope epitomized certain of the more precious traits of British psychedelia with their fairy-tale lyrics and gentle, swirling folky sound. At times they sound like a far more melodic and accessible Incredible String Band. Their folky ballads have aged best, and although there's some period charm to be found throughout their two albums, it's all a bit too cloying to rank among the finest unknown psychedelia. Although they had a solid underground reputation in Britain, they never found wide success, and evolved into a similar group, Fairfield Parlour, by the end of the '60s.*********

1. And She's Mine2. Reflections3. Please Stay, Don't Go4. What Can I Do?5. He's Gonna Ba a Star6. San Francisco7. Walking in the Park8. I Wants to Be Loved9. San Francisco10. He's Gonna Be a Star11. I'm Looking for a Woman12. House of the Rising Sun13. Roadrunner14. Wee Wee Hours15. You're Not Mine16. Drivin' Around17. Holiday Maker18. And She's Mine19. Please Stay, Don't Go 20.What Can I Do 21.High Heel Sneakers

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Review by Bruce Eder

This archival release is a veritable treasure-trove for British beat fanatics, assembling 21 demos by the UK band Kaleidoscope, mostly cut when they were known as The Sidekicks or The Keys, between the years 1964 and 1967. The music itself isn't terribly distinguished, seldom rising above the level that one would expect from a moderately talented Brit-beat outfit who were still trying to work out a sound. Kaleidoscope was known for its psychedelic pop sound, but at the stage of their history represented here, the quartet were deciding on whether they wanted to draw more from the Beatles or the Rolling Stones, and wisely chose the latter — they were better, or at least more interesting, doing R&B and blues covers than they were at dressing up melodic ballads with high harmonies. Not that much of their work as represented here going in either of those directions was going to get them very far on their own terms, but there are flashes of potential — an easily forgettable version of "House Of The Rising Sun" is sandwiched between interesting (if, at times, disorganized) renditions of "I'm Looking For A Woman" and "Roadrunner," and the latter is followed by a cover of Chuck Berry's oft-overlooked blues tune "Wee Wee Hours." There are also a handful of originals represented here, written by members Eddie Pumer and Peter Daltrey — none too good or original — "And She's Mine" even sounds like a P.F. Sloan composition during the latter's Bob Dylan phase. The material on this CD was retrieved from a set of acetates that had long been believed lost, and there are some gaps in the sound as well as a certain crudity to the overall production, but the results are still passable as an archival issue.